The size of the packaging market worldwide was estimated at $896 billion in 2022 and is expected to increase in the next years, reaching nearly $1.15 trillion by 2030. On the other hand, FAO aims to raise awareness about global food loss and waste because of the statistics of 2017. It is estimated that 14% of the world's food was lost and 17% was wasted. As a result, the environment is adversely affected, food security is compromised, and food costs increase. Contamination during food storage or transport poses a significant threat to human health. It can cause direct human harm by causing food to spoil or just by the toxins it releases during spoilage. As a result, food is thrown away and pathogenic bacteria can cause serious infections and a shorter shelf life. Food packaging is critical to preventing microbial contamination, preserving freshness, and extending shelf life. "Active Smart Packaging" is an innovative food packaging system that can preserve food quality and facilitate effective communication between producers, logistics providers, retailers, and consumers. This technology incorporates antimicrobial, antifungal, self-healing, anti-UV, pH-sensitive, thermochromic, and antioxidant agents into the packaging material that helps to extend food shelf life.
The goal is to use sustainable and eco-friendly biomaterials to produce active packaging (antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, biocides, anti-UV) and smart packaging (pH-sensitive, thermochromic, oxygen sensor, self-healing...), due to their unique features such as renewability, availability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and tailorable surface properties. This kind of packaging preserves food and enhances health safety without plastic waste via real-time food quality monitoring and by actively modifying the internal environment to continuously interact with the food over the stipulated shelf-life. The targeted packaging products can be edible like biosourced polymers (lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, alginate, starch, chitosan, proteins...) or non-edible like thermoplastic biocomposites with a variety of compositions, forms, shapes, improved mechanical properties, thermal properties, and moisture sensitivity, gas barrier (oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapour). The envisaged packaging products could be directly explored in the packaging industry.
We welcome original research, reviews, mini reviews, and perspective articles exploring topics including but not limited to the following:
- Active packaging films;
- Thermochromic films;
- Self-healing films;
- pH-responsive and pH-sensitive films;
- Sensors in food packaging;
- Food packaging including recycling materials or biomaterials byproduct.
Keywords:
Smart packaging, active films, edible thermochromic labels, intelligent ink, pH-sensitive films, thermochromic films
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
The size of the packaging market worldwide was estimated at $896 billion in 2022 and is expected to increase in the next years, reaching nearly $1.15 trillion by 2030. On the other hand, FAO aims to raise awareness about global food loss and waste because of the statistics of 2017. It is estimated that 14% of the world's food was lost and 17% was wasted. As a result, the environment is adversely affected, food security is compromised, and food costs increase. Contamination during food storage or transport poses a significant threat to human health. It can cause direct human harm by causing food to spoil or just by the toxins it releases during spoilage. As a result, food is thrown away and pathogenic bacteria can cause serious infections and a shorter shelf life. Food packaging is critical to preventing microbial contamination, preserving freshness, and extending shelf life. "Active Smart Packaging" is an innovative food packaging system that can preserve food quality and facilitate effective communication between producers, logistics providers, retailers, and consumers. This technology incorporates antimicrobial, antifungal, self-healing, anti-UV, pH-sensitive, thermochromic, and antioxidant agents into the packaging material that helps to extend food shelf life.
The goal is to use sustainable and eco-friendly biomaterials to produce active packaging (antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, biocides, anti-UV) and smart packaging (pH-sensitive, thermochromic, oxygen sensor, self-healing...), due to their unique features such as renewability, availability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and tailorable surface properties. This kind of packaging preserves food and enhances health safety without plastic waste via real-time food quality monitoring and by actively modifying the internal environment to continuously interact with the food over the stipulated shelf-life. The targeted packaging products can be edible like biosourced polymers (lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, alginate, starch, chitosan, proteins...) or non-edible like thermoplastic biocomposites with a variety of compositions, forms, shapes, improved mechanical properties, thermal properties, and moisture sensitivity, gas barrier (oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapour). The envisaged packaging products could be directly explored in the packaging industry.
We welcome original research, reviews, mini reviews, and perspective articles exploring topics including but not limited to the following:
- Active packaging films;
- Thermochromic films;
- Self-healing films;
- pH-responsive and pH-sensitive films;
- Sensors in food packaging;
- Food packaging including recycling materials or biomaterials byproduct.
Keywords:
Smart packaging, active films, edible thermochromic labels, intelligent ink, pH-sensitive films, thermochromic films
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.